Two New Books

Electric Boy Scout:: Guerrilla Typewriter is a largely non-fiction book dealing with the pressures on Control and the possibility of using art and literature as methods of social resistance. Part essays, part interview, part stories, and part something else, this book takes you on a trip to the future and beyond.

Get a copy of the book from Amazon here or email lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com to order direct from the publisher

File Folders: Painting in Ephemera is a brand new book of art featuring stunning paintings from a personal collection made during 2022. A great way to bring home a thrilling series, you can get copies of the book from Amazon here or email lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com to order a copy direct from the publisher.

Chainsaw Gender Reveal by Keith Higginbotham

The fabulous Chainsaw Gender Reveal by the wonderfully talented Keith Higginbotham is out now from LJMcD Communications.

This book of excellent modern poetry will twist your brain and bring you to a sudden and shining realisation about the state of poetry and your life. Get a copy from Amazon here or email lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com to order direct from the publisher.

The Sound of a Pistol: Child’s Play and Other Games

The brand new book from Lachlan J McDougall and their small children is here and available for purchase.

This stunning collaborative effort is sure to dazzle and delight and you’ll be amazed at what these small forces of nature come out with.

All proceeds from this book go towards new toys and art supplies for the little ones.

Purchase a copy from Amazon here or email lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com to order a copy direct from LJMcD Communications.

Systems

Systems is ten images based off the idea of an image processing system. We take a verbal cue from out in the aether and we transpose to the picture language. We distort what is through our lens of system. A rigorous system no doubt but what remains is another matter entirely. These photographs represent the functional world reduced to mere repeating patterns. Things are brought down to a simple gridwork or a fantastic kaleidoscope and move further and further away from that thing which they are. The physical world is no longer recognisable and the representative function of the photograph is nullified.

All images, bar one, were produced by taking a photograph of a thing then using a standardised procedural system to overlay image and distort functionality. The thing no longer remains although it has been multiplied ad infinitum. The odd image out was produced by abstracting photography away from the object and moving towards the infinitesimal—the thing becomes blind to our looks and takes on a textural quality like trees on a distant hill. I’ll let you decide which image is the odd one out.

Systems distorts the commonplace by repetition and abstraction. Nothing remains when you see a thing multiplied beyond the point of counting. The ocean is not a glass of water, a roll of paper is not a tree—these images are not their preceding form, they are something new that stands outside of function and time. They often take on a stark minimalist quality—the thing which looms so large is reduced to a mere pattern that stands in for the entire universe—or else they explode in kaleidoscopic mandalas where the thing loses itself in the monumental ebb and flow of time. Systems is the point of departure, even the name loses meaning.

Each image is on offer in a limited signed and numbered edition of 10 per photograph. For affordability and accessibility there is also an unsigned ‘print on demand’ option. Prints can be purchased from artpal.com or email lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com for pricing and details.

System #1

System #2 (Fish Eyes Bug Out)

System #3 (Viper’s Nest)

System #4

System #5

System #6

System #7 (Keyhole Lights)

System #8 (Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn)

System #9

System #10 (Future Proof)

D.O.R Issue 2 now Available

In what seems like a whirlwind, Issue 2 of the LJMcD Communications literature and arts magazine filled up and hit the shelves!

You can purchase print copies of the magazine from Amazon right here or you can email lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com with your order details and I will send a copy to you asap.

Or, feel free to download and read this free pdf and share far and wide!

D.O.R Issue 2Download

I do recommend getting the print edition if you can afford it, the art and poems just look better on the printed page, but if not, it’s more important that the work gets read.

Enjoy! And keep an eye out for issue 3!

Submissions Open for D.O.R issue 2

SUBMISSIONS CLOSED

Hi all,

I’m happy to announce that the LJMcD Communications literature and arts magazine, D.O.R, is opening up for a fabulous second issue.

I’m looking for poetry, prose, and art on the edge of sanity. Bold new experiments in text and form. Anything that pushes the boundaries of what we can do with language and symbol. Full details below.

POETRY: Send up to five poems as a single word document. No restriction on form or subject matter, just make it interesting. You’ll find I’m more interested in experimental poetry than I am in traditional sonnets and the like, but I’m open to anything. Up to a million lines, but make them count!

PROSE: Up to 5,000 words in a word document. Short stories, prose poems, essays on contemporary magick, whatever ya got, just make sure you’re doing something new with your words. I want my head to spin with the modern world.

ART: Send up to five high def images in a single email along with any additional information you want published like titles and media.

Send all submissions to lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com. Please include a brief third person bio in the body of your email to accompany your piece if it is accepted.

Unfortunately, I cannot offer payment for accepted pieces, but all contributors will get the option of a print copy of the magazine at printing/shipping cost.

You can check out the first issue of the magazine in pdf or print copy here

Now, go forth and send me your best and weirdest work!

Pre-Order The Sound of A Pistol

Coming up in April is the brand new book of poetry and art by Lachlan J McDougall and their two small children. This book takes the childish eye and allows it to roam freely across the page in a glorious display of fatherly love.

Let’s see what the blurb has to say:

A series of poetic and artistic experiments gathered through play and games with the author’s children. A father’s passion project bringing his twins into the world of literature on their own terms. The Sound of A Pistol is the mind of a child brought bare before an adult world.

The book will be out at the beginning of April, but pre-orders are open now. For a print copy, simply email lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com and your order will go out shortly after release date.

To pre-order the kindle edition, check out the link here.

All proceeds from this book will go towards new toys and art supplies for the children in question, so get on board and order a copy today!

LJMcD Communications call for Ephemera

As you may know, LJMcD Communications publishes free zines and pamphlets from time to time. To date these have been the work of press founder and main contributor, Lachlan J McDougall, but now the call is open to have your work published as part of this wonderful free mail out network.

What we’re looking for: set your word document to A5 paper size and put together material up to 52 A5 pages in length. Please, no more than that as the zines become unwieldy, but anything up to that length is workable.

We’re looking for experiments here. We’re looking for something that’s been on your mind and you just need to get it out. You might want to check out the free pamphlets that have already been distributed here.

What’s in it for you: well, it’s a free mail out service, so there’s no monetary recompense, but it’s a great way to get your work out to a wide audience and it will put you in a good position if you ever want to submit a book for consideration with LJMcD Communications. There’ll be the option to limit the number of print copies if you’re into rarity, but otherwise your pamphlet will be distributed to the mailing network and included with orders of books and other mail outs and go on the ‘Catalogue of Ephemera’ for collectors of LJMcD Communications work.

Your pamphlet will also be put aside for inclusion in an anthology volume collecting all the LJMcD Communications ephemera in the future.

You will hold complete copyright over your work and can withdraw the zine at any time or use it for your own purposes, whatever you like!

There is also an option to put the pamphlet out as a full book after a period of time to set it in stone as part of the LJMcD Communications catalogue.

How do I submit: start by familiarising yourself with the zines the press has already put out, then put together your own zine manuscript and email it to lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com for consideration. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible and let you know how to proceed from there.

Monthly Update: February 2023

Well, it’s that time again—the last Saturday of the month—and it’s time for the monthly update of everything going on at LJMcD Communications.

Let’s start with the brand new art book and photographic series Twelve Photographs of Silence. These insomniac photographs are designed to capture the sleepless lack of early morning and are a lovely little collection. You can purchase the folio book of the series here or view the series here

Next up is the fabulous Nagasaki Blues, my brand new cut-up novel and the first in the Hypernovel Trilogy. This book is a wild ride through to the end of the world and back and just has to be read to be believed. Get a copy right here

For either of these books, you can also order signed copies direct from LJMcD Communications by emailing lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com with your order details and I will sign and send out as soon as possible.

***

That’s all the releases for February, but let’s take a look at what’s coming up in March.

A Pocketful of Scars by Laird Lee Kirk will be released in early March. This book of delightfully human poetry is a real treat and you won’t want to miss it. Pre-orders open, just email lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com with your order details.

My second free pamphlet for the year, A Report from Elm Street Number 23, will be going out next month in a limited signed and numbered run of fifty copies. A free pdf will also be uploaded to the website, but to get your hands on one of the print copies, just email lachlan.mcdougall@gmail.com with your postal details.

Shimmied Christmas Jimmy, the Rat Fink of the Chimney is a brand new chapbook in the c22 open editions series. This long poem will be made available as a free pdf here and on the c22 website with an option to buy print copies if you like the work.

You can also have a look at the entire non-McDougall publishing schedule for LJMcD Communications here

New publication in Var(2x)

Hi all,

I’ve just had a suite of poems and an asemic artwork published with the fabulous people over at Var(2x)

You can read the poems here

Enjoy!